Sir... prize

Some of the children in Ashaiman

I'm not sure where to start off from, so I'll probably take the easy way out and start from the middle. If you think about it, that makes perfect sense because when you start, you're about as close to the end as you are to the beginning. Nonsense, you say? Good. I'm glad you realised. However, before you complain about it, all you have to do is click on that letter "X" at the top right hand side of the screen. Alternatively, CTRL + W will also do the trick, and you'll be spared. If you voluntarily choose to read on, then you also acknowledge that you're waiving your rights to make any complaints.

Talking about rights, last Sunday we visited the nuns of Mother Teresa, just a few hundred metres away from the Salesians. These nuns, who come from as far away as India and other countries, deserve the biggest pat on the back and all the support they can get. They house abandoned kids, kids who are HIV positive, elderly people who cannot take care of themselves, and they even give medical assistance. Seeing the children there being given something to eat warms your heart. However, the heart warming was soon to turn to disgust, on learning that a perfectly healthy girl, 13 years old, was rejected by her family because they believe she is a witch. How much more cruel can life be? And why is there still so much ignorance in this world? I wish I knew. At least I know that there are these nuns, and others like them, who put to shame 99.99% of the world's population, and I cannot but admire them...

That, however, was the second highlight of Sunday. The first was Mass. I did tell you that I'm not starting from the beginning, didn't I? For the first time I experienced an African Mass, and my oh my, what can I say? Lots of wonderful singing, but more importantly, lots of dancing. It was something so different to what we're used to in the Western World, and yet it was so nice. Time just plain flew while we were there, in the open air of the Salesian parish... where we were also accompanied by the occasional bird! If you ever get the chance, make sure you attend. It's more than worth it.

End of the first week of the Ashaiman camp

What is not worth it is raising hopes of staying clean for too long. There is so much soily dust around the place. I can't even put into words how much there is. And being with the children just makes it that much harder to stay clean. Then again, did anyone ever say that getting dirty isn't fun? It's what we all did as kids, and in case you haven't yet realised, I have no problem with being a kid all over again. That's why I'm happy to have worn a brown t-shirt on the first day of the summer camp. No, I didn't choose brown because it is in fashion. In fact, I chose white, but by the time I took it off it was more brown than white :)

These past 5 days saw the beginning of the summer camp with the kids. I was in Ashaiman, where the children are generally speaking borderline between middle class and poor. While these children are not the worse off, I can't even count how many of them wear the same clothes day in, day out. At least we have been able to provide them with a daily meal, and I once again thank all those who have made a contribution towards our fundraising. What is the meal, I hear you ask? I think it was rice on Monday, rice on Tuesday, rice on Wednesday, rice on Thursday, and yes, rice on Friday. What went with it? Chicken, chicken, chicken, chicken and chicken. Oh, and very spicy sauce. I didn't have any of it, after my stomach so grandly rejected that sort of food simply because it is Ghanaian. Talk about injustice! Actually, one of the days it was fish instead of chicken, and on another I believe there was Banku, a local food.

You could say that the kids in Ashaiman all speak English (although I do know that in Twi, I am "obruni" (white person), and "bra" means "come"). The same cannot be said for Tema New Town, where I will be in the coming week. Communication with the Ashaiman children wasn't too hard, although even when you don't speak the same language, it is still easy to communicate with a smile like this one ---> :) It is a universal language, just like football is (and believe me, they like their football in Ghana). Talking of football, I can't believe I'm going to yet again miss the first few weeks of the English Premier League. However, as they say, life is full of challenges, sacrifices, and choices, and I have gladly chosen to do something for others, rather than go for a long vacation somewhere on earth, where I would also be able to watch the Premier League.

Lovely beach at Ada Foah

Vacation. This is the kids' vacation. The irony is that for the parents to accept to send them to the summer camp, classroom education (predominantly English and Maths) is a must, otherwise there is no trade off, and there is no point in sending your kids to a summer camp when they could be helping their mother do the chores, or their father work. So with this in mind, I found myself teaching English and Maths to 12 and 13 year olds. My best efforts to convince them to call me David failed miserably, and I remain "Sir" to them. I even tried to tell them that "Sir" is generally followed by "prize". While they saw the funny side of it, they still called me "Sir"... and thinking about it, I'm now so used to it, that I think you should all start to call me "His Honour, Sir David Leone Ganado."

What else can I tell you about the kids? They are a joy to be around, it was an entirely great experience this week, and they practically all have short hair, girls included. In my case, I always managed to recognise whether they were boys or girls, although the less detail I give on this point, the less blushes for someone else! Let's just say that more often than not, there are also boobs to help you determine whether it's a boy or a girl :)

Girls. Ghana. Music. Ghanaian girls. These people love their music. What would you say if I were to tell you that 12 year olds can put on a great big dance show, with moves and coordination that make them seem so much older? However it that is not enough, then how about a couple of 5 year olds dancing incredibly well for their age (probably better than I can, or will ever be able to do, myself)? It's just plain incredible, and you have to see it for yourself. I do have videos, but I suggest you hop onto a plane and head over to Africa. You'll love it (although please don't forget the vaccinations and the visas), I'm quite sure. Just like you'd love the weather here.

More of the lovely Ada Foah beach

The weather? Hmmmm... hot and humid, although at least not as bad as I expected. We're now heading into the end of the rainy season, and in fact we have seen a bit of rain, and certainly a lot of clouds and overcast days. It would probably be nicer to have the sun shine brightly, but then again things do happen at strange times here. For example, on Thursday I went to see a concert by the Gracias Choir from Korea. What is so special about the concert? It was a Christmas cantata. It was wonderful, to be honest, and certainly worth every penny (or rather, Ghanaian Cedi), but the timing was, at best, a bit suspect, seeing that we're still in mid-August.

Oh well, beggars cannot be choosers, so I didn't choose where we went to relax as a group today. The Ghanaians decided we should go to Ada Foah, and we left it to them. And you know what? It was paradise on earth. Sun, sand, river (or Atlantic ocean on the other side of the island), big coconut trees, hammocks, beautiful girls, blue sky, food, and... BEER of course! What more could you ask for? We even went to see the point where the river meets the Atlantic, which was cool. Battling the waves in the Atlantic was also really cool, although for some reason I didn't manage to convince anyone else to join me in the battle! The others preferred to swim in the river (which I also did for a big chunk of the day). I saw a few tiny fish in the river, and many (read "hundreds") crabs (or whatever they were). Shellfish, that's for sure. Oh, and there were lobsters as well. The lobsters only came around in the afternoon, i.e. after the sun had left its mark on our skin. At least the sun block greatly reduced the redness in my case (as I'm sure I'd have been as bright a red as blood had I not used sun block).

Talking about food, the strangest thing has been happening ever since I arrived in Ghana. I haven't gained any weight, and neither have I lost any. At least, I certainly haven't fluctuated by more than 1kg at most. It's amazing how I always weigh the same, whatever I do, whatever I eat. I've been weighing the same weight (within a range of +/- 2kg) for more than 11 years now, and that is quite a sizeable part of my short life to date. So if anyone wants to give me some of their own, please feel free to do so. If I see that there's a queue forming, then we'll auction it off. Whoever pays me the most wins the auction.

Ok, I'm rather boring, so I'm going to stop writing here for today seeing that it is nearly midnight (and I still have to read through it all, which will, in all probability add another good chunk of minutes... or hours). The pictures you see with this blog are me with some kids, the Ashaiman group of kids with the team of animators, and then there are a couple of pictures of paradise. I hope you like them, however if you don't, then really, you ought have got it by now... it's your problem, and not mine.

Have a good week!